Catalans Dragons boss Joel Tomkins is bracing himself to lose Franck Maria for the rest of the season after the forward was sent off at Salford Red Devils on Thursday night. The French side won 17-16 at the Salford Community Stadium, with a Ugo Tison drop goal being the difference on the night.
As the scoreline would suggest, Catalans didn’t have things all their own way against Paul Rowley’s side and had to come from behind to pick up Tomkins’ third win as head coach of the Dragons. They had to do it with 12 men too after Maria was shown a red card for hefty shoulder to head contact on Emmanuel Waine.
Waine was visibly unconscious as he lay stretched out on the field of play and referee Matty Lynn, who was officiating his first ever Super League game, was left with no choice but to dismiss the forward.
Tomkins hasn’t seen the tackle back but while he has defended Maria’s character, he expects the prop to land a ban.
Catalans Dragons boss on Franck Maria’s red card and his side’s ‘disgraceful’ first half performance
“We didn’t have a live feed but it was one of the biggest collisions I’ve ever seen to be honest, we heard it from the stand where we were,” Tomkins told Sky after the game. “There was obviously contact there, we’re not going to try and defend it, if he’s made contact with the head then I’m sure he’ll get a lengthy ban.
“What I can say about Franck Maria is he isn’t that kind of player. If he did make contact with the head I know it wouldn’t have been intentional but it is what it is. If he’s made contact with the head then we’ll expect a ban.”
On the game itself, which Catalans struggled in before the interval, Tomkins added: “I’ve learnt some lessons as a coach there, I’ve never known anything like it to be honest with you, we came into the game a little bit busted and we lost three players through injury and had a man sent off. We ended up with 13 fit players.
“The first half was disgraceful, absolutely disgraceful from us, the way we turned up. We had a tough game against Wigan on Saturday on a short turnaround, with the travel and a few boys missing, but that is totally unacceptable. I told the boys that at half-time and I left them to it to be honest, I was in there for two minutes, I left them to it.
“We came out and we got a response. First and foremost, I want to congratulate Salford, over the last two weeks their performances, I don’t know what Paul Rowley is doing but I’d like to learn some lessons from him because the enthusiasm and the motivation that team has got in the situation they’re in is unbelievable.
“We could have done with a bit of that tonight but we started the game really poorly and clung on for a win at the end.”
Anonymous
September 6, 2025 at 2:00 pm
Maria IS that kind of player. Look at his record for giving away penalties. Old-style RL thuggery.